I suppose it’s possible that out there somewhere is a Maserati A6GCS roller sitting in the back of the race workshop just waiting for an appropriate lump of iron to be dropped in. Maybe there’s an empty frame and fiberglass body from a properly established sports and racing aftermarket maker out there in need of some proper racing grunt: a Bocar, a Devin, or the like. Or perhaps, as the seller suggests, you don’t want to risk your numbers matching engine should you decide to race or rally your already restored or preserved A6GCS. If you have one of these situations, jump on this.
This engine though… I wish more vintage sportcar enthusiasts thought a bit more like vintage hot rod enthusiasts and could see this beautiful engine not as final piece to a project, but as a beginning of a new one. I’ll grant you, a $160,000 Maserati engine is a very different thing from a $500 Hemi FirePower slowly rusting in a junk yard (or even a $15,000 professionally prepped example). But part of what made racing so amazing in the 1950s and 60s was that spirit of experimentation and tinkering away at home brewed racing specials.
Look at this engine. Doesn’t it make you want to start pulling steel tubes out of the pile and start laying out lengths on the garage floor into the vague shape of frame rails? … To grab a stick of chalk and start sketching body silhouettes on the workshop wall? It worked for Frank Kurtis and Max Balchowsky. There’s more in this engine than the history and the legacy of the Maserati brothers. There is also the twinkling of promise for what it can be.
More information at Fantasy Junction’s inventory detail page. Gorgeous stuff.